Once more unto the breach—that being Barcelona—for the annual trading of knowledge, ideas, contacts, and contracts that is Mobile World Congress. Other than missing last year, this was my 15th overall, stretching back to 1998 in Cannes (when MWC was the GSM World Congress). A lot about the event has changed in that time, and the industry is once again undergoing profound changes, this time driven by the onset of the 5G era and all that it promises (though whether it will deliver is a debate for another time). One particular area undergoing much evolution is my primary area of market coverage: mobile backhaul.
In this research note, I summarize some of the conversations I had with equipment vendors about their latest product announcements related to this market and consider what they mean for the future of mobile backhaul and related areas. Clients, please log in to view the full content.

With the dawn of 5G networks right around the corner, 2019 promises to be an exciting year full of announcements, deployments, and official launches. But how will WiFi coexist alongside 5G? More importantly, how will the carrier WiFi market pan out in 2019 once 5G is introduced? Clients, please log in to view the full content.

The microwave market in 2019 will continue to be dominated by talk of 5G and the role of microwave in next-gen backhaul networks. As currently perceived, 5G falls into several distinct categories: fixed wireless access (FWA), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), and massive Internet of Things (IoT). Each application requires a slightly different set of parameters, and we certainly expect microwave and millimeter wave to play a strong role in both FWA and eMBB—and potentially within IoT too although it is likely that this will be the last of these segments to emerge, so this Analyst Insight will focus on factors impacting usage of microwave within the first two application environments.

This market tracker provides accurate data and analyses—including market size, forecasts, and market trends—to help clients make better business decisions in the outdoor small cell backhaul equipment market.

US telecommunications equipment maker CommScope will acquire Arris, in a $7.4B deal valued at $5.69 billion, with the difference comprised of CommScope’s assumption of Arris’s debt. As part of the deal, the Carlyle Group will make a $1M equity investment in CommScope for an approximate 16% stake in the new company.
CommScope’s CEO Eddie Edwards has claimed the two companies’ product lines are complementary, and that the combined company will “enable end-to-end wired and wireless communications infrastructure solutions that neither company could otherwise achieve on its own.”
The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2019.

In the era of ubiquitous connectivity, people will not only consume vast amounts of data but stay continuously connected across more devices and platforms. But what will become of WiFi as an access technology? What role will WiFi play when 5G promises near-instant connectivity across several applications? Will WiFi disappear into the mobile ether? Clients, please log in to view the full content.

CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) has the potential to help mobile operators, MSOs, and private enterprises offer increased mobile network capacity and connectivity via the use of shared 3.5 GHz spectrum for TD-LTE. It is an innovative take on spectrum sharing that has the potential to increase spectrum utilization, increase localized in-building usage, create entirely new business models, and strengthen existing ones (e.g., small cells or neutral host). Clients please log in to view the full content.